Circular No. IAR-C16-2023-EN
Regional Workshop Understanding the Safe from Harm Self-Assessment
1. Background and Context
During the 42nd World Scout Conference, that took place in August 2021, a change in the World Constitution was approved in its article V.5, letter e) "Demonstration that, due to the quality of its leadership, its policies and procedures for guarantee a safe environment for boys, girls, young people and adults in Scouting, the organization of its leadership training, the size of its membership and its resources, is self-sufficient and capable of providing adequate services to its members, assuming all the obligations of a Member Organization.
For this purpose, the compliance mechanism has been created through a process of self- assessment and reporting of results of the key factors for the implementation of Safe from Harm at all levels and areas of the National Scout Organizations.
In order to support the NSOs in understanding the criteria of the new self-assessment standard and acting against the results obtained, will be held the Regional Workshop Understanding the Safe from Harm Self-assessment.
The purpose is to present the tool and support NSOs in understanding each criterion, evidences to be used, and way to develop the formulation of an action plan, thus supporting the first application of its self-assessment.
2. Objectives
This workshop has the follow objectives:
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Generate the space to know, understand and apply the new Safe from Harm self- assessment tool in the participating National Scout Organizations.
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Contribute to the process of fulfilling the requirements by the participating NSOs.
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Contribute to the formulation of the Safe from Harm implementation strategy in the participating NSOs.
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Generate the space to share experiences and good practices of the NSOs of the Region and strengthen the Global Network Safe from Harm.
3. Participants
This workshop is aimed to the people responsible for coordinating the design and implementation of Safe from Harm in NSOs.
In the case of NSOs having already designated a person responsible for Safe from Harm:
- Coordinators or responsible for Safe from Harm in the NSO.
- Members of the Safe from Harm team at the NSO, if any.
- Members of the National Team from other areas involved in the implementation of Safe from Harm (Commissioners of Youth Programme, Adults in Scouting, Institutional Development, and others).
For NSOs that do not yet have a person responsible for Safe from Harm, we suggest choosing their participants considering the following characteristics:
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Be a member of the National Team or have the power to design and propose processes to be implemented in the NSO.
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Know the generalities and key elements of Safe from Harm in Scouting.
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Able to form and lead work teams.
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Able to plan and execute projects.
We ask participants to demonstrate their membership in the National Team of their NSO at the time of registration.
Participants from other regions are welcome to participate.
4. Dates and Modality
The workshop will be held on July 15th and 16th in virtual mode under the Zoom platform. Once the registration is complete, instructions for entering each session will be sent to the participants. We will have Spanish-English interpretation available.
It is recommended that those who register ensure their availability to participate throughout the weekend since we will be applying the tool in its entirety, and it is necessary to have complete dedication to understand all the criteria.
Due to the virtual modality that will be used, it will be necessary for the participants to have access to an Internet connection with enough capacity to interact on platforms that require the use of audio and video, as well as the equipment and accessories necessary for their active participation (computer, headphones, microphone).
5. Participation Fee
Being an event in virtual mode, participation will have no cost for the participants.
6. Structure of the Event
During the sessions we will explore each of the self-assessment criteria and how to demonstrate them, actions to achieve the criteria and experiences of other NSOs regarding what each criterion requests.
The workshop plan can be found in the attached circular.
7. Registration Process
Those interested in participating in the workshop must complete their registration in the form that will be open until July 3, 2023.
You can access the form at the following link: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/517fd3d96a424a678de5b483e2e869e1
As registration requirements, participants must attach the following two documents at the time of completing the form:
- Safe from Harm on-line course certificate. As usual, participants are required to present the Safe from Harm course certificate. An update of the online courses has been made, for which we invite you to know and take the course that we will use from now on as a participation requirement: SfH 1: Safe from Harm Essential Learnings in this link: https://learn.scout.org/resource/sfh-1-safe-harm-essential- learnings
During this year 2023, while the transition is taking place, we will continue to receive the certificate of the previous course if it has completed on a date after January 2020. - Endorsement letter from your NSO. Letter from the NSO certifying your membership to the National Team in any of the areas called in this circular.
Once the fulfillment of the two requirements has been verified, the link and instructions for the call via zoom will be sent to the email that each participant registers.
For any additional information regarding this call, you can contact the email jmarquez@scout.org.
Yours in Scouting,
Raúl Sánchez Vaca
Regional Director
World Scout Bureau
Interamerica Support Centre
Janet Isela Márquez Vergel
Adults in Scouting Director
World Scout Bureau
Interamerica Support Centre
